Riassunto
Un panorama mozzafiato e magistrale, che racconta la storia epica dell'anarchia del dopoguerra, degli imperi morenti e degli stati nazionali in ascesa. Ci fa riconsiderare la nostra comprensione del ventesimo secolo europeo. David motadel, the times literary supplement per gli alleati occidentali, l'11 novembre 1918 è sempre stata una data solenne: la fine dei combattimenti che avevano distrutto una generazione, e anche la rivendicazione di un sacrificio terribile con il crollo totale dei loro principali nemici: l'impero tedesco, l'austria-ungheria e l'impero ottomano. Ma per gran parte del resto d'europa questo fu un giorno senza significato, poiché una serie continua e da incubo di conflitti travolse un paese dopo l'altro. In questo libro altamente originale e avvincente, robert gerwarth ci chiede di ripensare alla vera eredità della prima guerra mondiale. "lucido, incisivo e ricco di dettagli affascinanti" financial times, libri dell'anno "importante e tempestivo.. Ci obbliga a riconsiderare un periodo e un fronte di battaglia che sono stati troppo spesso trascurati" margaret macmillan, the new york times review of books "questa narrazione del caos continentale svolge un prezioso servizio raccontando i tumulti del dopoguerra in europa.. Ci aiuta a capire perché poche guerre giungono a conclusioni ordinate" max hastings, sunday times "ci ricorda, con dettagli vividi e spesso scioccanti, che solo in alcuni paesi le uccisioni hanno avuto fine l'undicesimo giorno dell'undicesimo mese.. Lascia un senso di presentimento per i nostri tempi" robert tombs, the times
Recensione
This narrative of continent-wide chaos makes it easier to understand why order came to seem a supremely desirable objective in 1930s Europe, trumping freedom ... it helps us understand why few wars reach tidy conclusions: once a society has suspended its instinctive, social and legal prejudice against killing, it often proves hard to restore. (Max Hastings The Sunday Times)
Pulls together a complex narrative about the uneasy peace of the late Twenties and shine a piercing light into darkened corners of history ... an unnerving reminder of how stubbornly some geopolitical fault-lines endure (Sinclair McKay The Telegraph)
A mixture of fast-paced narrative and fluent analysis ... Gerwarth demonstrates with an impressive concentration of detail that in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe the carnage of the first world war by no means came to an end, as it did for the British and French, in late 1918. (Tony Barber Financial Times)
Combining a big-picture overview with close-up detail - we hear the voices of soldiers, politicians, civilians - Gerwarth has written a vivid if disturbing account (Matthew Price National)
Searing and vivid ... a timely reminder that the roots of century-long violence can be traced back to the cataclysmic end of the Great War (Richard Overy Literary Review)
A thorough explanation for the rise of the nationalist and fascist groups who set the stage for World War II. (Kirkus Reviews)
Gerwarth's fascinating and finely crafted book is a rich combination of military, political, cultural and social history. He makes good use of literary sources and witness testimony to bring the events he narrates to life ... an impressive work of highly accessible scholarship (Geoffrey Roberts Irish Times)
This is an important and compelling book with a fascinating and chilling narrative ... Gerwarth reveals how the forgotten postwar violence comprised a key step on Europe's descent into darkness. (Alexander Watson BBC History Magazine)
While Gerwarth's warfare theories are cogent and convincing, he never loses sight of the human dimension. He skillfully avoids the danger of getting bogged down in a mass of detail, livening up his narrative by using contemporary quotes from politicians, soldiers and writers. One mark of a good history book is that it allows the reader to see familiar events from a new perspective. In this respect, The Vanquished is an exceptional history book. (Andrew Lynch Sunday Post Business Magazine)
[Gerwarth] shines a light on what is, from a western European point of view, a somewhat obscure and relatively short period of time ... from the layman's vantage point, it is so well written that it reads like a novel. Tragically, for the people killed, wounded and forced to flee from their homes, it is not. This book is well worth the read. (Frank MacGabhann Irish Independent)
Le informazioni nella sezione "Su questo libro" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.
